Jeakim Slovaz and the Gue'vesa
by Whyeren
Summary: A regiment of guardsmen, abandoned and left alone to face the Tau and their allies. As the situation continues to get worse and worse, Jeakim Slovaz and his fellow guardsmen start to reconsider their loyalties, especially when given an offer they can hardly refuse. My first fanfiction, probably rubbish but I hope you enjoy :)
1. Chapter 1: Hopeless

**Well, this is my first ever fanfiction and really my first proper attempt at publishing any sort of creative writing. I doubt anybody will read this and I doubt even more that they will find it up to standard but It's been in my head for a long time and I just decided to publish this for the sake of it. If anybody does actually read this and enjoy it, reviews are appreciated.**

 **I am sure this is a type-ridden mess but oh well. Here we go and I hope you enjoy :)**

 **This is a Warhammer 40k story giving some more detail in how the Tau acquired so many ex-guard human axillaries, especially from from the 19th Brimlock dragoons focusing on Jeakim and my OC tau character.**

 **Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own anything to do with Warhammer 40k (I hope that's good enough)**

Jeakim was scared, more scared than he'd ever been in his life sitting in a damp imperial guard bunker, listening to the distance screeches of kroots and the odd crack of a lasgun, most likely a nervous sentry firing blindly into the darkness. The 19th Regiment of the Brimlock dragoons, his regiment, had been participating in the Damocles Gulf Crusade and he had been proud to be a part of it, proud for a chance to kill the hated Xenos and please the Emperor he once praised so freely. Now? Now he was just afraid. The rest of the crusade forces had been rapidly withdrawn to deal with the sudden appearance of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth, leaving his regiment alone to face the Tau forces.

His regiment had set up a command post on a hill in the middle of a large field on a largely undeveloped world with not an indigenous human in sight, they had already gone or had perished in the previous large-scale battles against the Tau and their auxiliaries forces. Around the command centre trenches had been desperately dug and bunkers placed in an attempt to shield the guardsmen from the Tau snipers hidden out beyond the Imperial lines, everyone knew they were out there, always watching and waiting for the right moment to strike and the guardsmen hated it. In an attempt to bolster the morale of their forces, the Commissars decided to give them a boost in the only way they knew how, beatings, suicide missions or executions in a desperate attempt to keep their fighting force fighting.

The Commissars, oh he hated them. At first he had considered them holy, extensions of the Emperor's will on the battlefield and their orders should be followed without question, now he was only following them in the fear that if he stepped out of line, he would be the next to be executed. So they waited, and waited, periodically sending out desperate Vox calls for help but there was never any response, the guardsmen felt abandoned and helpless and this is why the thoughts of desertion, mutiny and freedom entered their minds and as their losses slowly piled up, the more and more they wished it all just to end.

As he sat there, helplessly trying to get some sleep along with twenty other guardsmen crammed into a bunker, he nearly had a heart failure when one of the regiments hated Commissars stepped without warning into the bunker, identifiable immediately by his glowing red bionic right eye and his faintly glowing power sword he proudly displayed at his hip. "Guardsmen" He barked out, immediately waking the more dozy inhabitants of the bunker and they all rose unsteadily to salute him wearily, dreading what he was about to announce "We have stayed too long here under the eyes of the Xenos, tonight we break out and we will scour these aliens from the face of the planet, you have five minutes to prepare yourselves, and do not fear. The emperor is with you" He finished dramatically before striding out of the bunker, leaving Jeakim to slump down against the wall and one of the younger recruits, just a boy in armor to mumble quietly "This is it, our final orders. It's over for us".

He was met with silence from the guardsmen until the grizzled sergeant in the bunker with them attempted to raise their spirits "You heard him lads, five minutes and we will be free from this Xenos filth, do not fear them" He looked around the gloomy bunker before sighing slightly in defeat "He's mad, we're all dead.." He dropped his voice in fear of being heard "That Commissar is going to kill us all" At this Jeakim looked up _"What is he suggesting? disobeying a direct order? That's treason.. tainted with heresy"_ he thoughts to himself, slightly worried and even alarmed when the rest of the guardsmen all nodded or showed their agreement somehow, he just shook his head slightly and checked his Lasrifle for the hundredth that week, just out of habit and waited for the inevitable call to do his duty.

After five minutes the sergeant muttered a few quiet words to himself, sounding like a hushed prayer before walking over to the exit of the bunker "Come on then, can't keep the Commissar waiting". At the sheer thought of displeasing the Commissar, Jeaken and the rest of the guardsmen filed out of the bunker into the night and the six-foot high trench the bunker was seated in. The guardsmen walked through the trenches, attempting to ignore the decaying corpses of multiple creatures lining the walls of the trench on into the unofficial staging area of this attempt at an attack. Jeaken was surprised with the numbers this Commissar was able to muster for his personal attack, the Colonel must really be crazy or just helpless to allow a single Commissar so much power. There must have been at least a hundred of so guardsmen and a handful of sentinels, all standing in rows as if they were on parade, but probably just to bolster the commissars already inflated ego, thought Jeaken before mentally slapping himself, warding away and treasonous thoughts.

The commissar stood up on small mount of earth, looking down on the massed, hungry and exhausted guardsmen and opened his mouth "Do not fear guardsmen, this is your finest hour!" He drew his power sword and thrust it out towards the darkness on the other side of the trench "The God Emperor is watching over us all and he shall lead us to victory, guardsmen, forward!" Some of the guardsmen erupted in cheers, ready for action while others, including Jeaken were for focused on how their opponents must have undoubtedly heard him and will be prepared. With a last "Forward!" The Commissar strode down from his makeshift podium proudly and out into the fields beyond the trench, followed by the ranks of guardsmen, marching forward proudly and sentinels, rushing past as if they were running, illuminating the way in front with the lamps mounted on the side of their canopies. Jeaken marched onwards, alongside the rest of his platoon, slightly unnerved by the silence apart from occasional shouts from the Commissar and the sounds of marching, the occasional guardsman stumbling in the darkness before being hoisted back into line by a nearby comrade and also the sound of muffled prayers, mumble out desperately to seeming deaf ears.

The silence did not last long, after a minute or so of marching onwards the field in front of them, photon grenades suddenly burst among the ranks of the guardsmen, sending many of the stumbling or to the ground and the sound of plasma carbines discharging filled the guardsman's ears. Naturally, the Tau knew they were coming and pathfinders had been waiting for them, lurking in the darkness beyond the imperial camp and now they had their pray.

(A few seconds earlier) Shas'la Karis, dropped to a prone position in the dense undergrowth on the right hand side of the field the Imperial Guard were blindly marching across, he took a small marklight marker from his utility belt and fired an invisible beam straight into the heart of the ranks of the guard, his carbine's sights calibrating to the distance and he knew the pathfinders around him and more distant fire warriors weapons had done the same. Smiling grimly, he sat in silence before hearing through his helmet's communication system the one word said by the nearby Tau commander that would seal the fate of the blind force marching onward past them _"Commence"_. As soon as this was said several pathfinders of both sides of the guards ranks through photon grades overarm blindly towards them with a soft grunt of effort before kneeling or taking cover in the undergrowth, waiting a few seconds before the photon grenades detonated. Karis watched gleefully as the grenades detonated, sending many guardsmen to the ground or reeling backwards, completely disoriented and he set his sights on the chest of a haggard-looking guardsman and squeezed the trigger on his carbine. The shot impacted the guardsman in the centre of his chest, even the relatively low powered burst of plasma burning straight through his flak-jacket and burning through flesh below, he let out a surprised grunt and fell backwards to the ground, twitching erratically. The rest of the Tau around Karis and on the opposite side of the field opened up, filling the air with bolts of Plasma.

 **If anyone made it to the end of the first chapter without giving up on this half way through, I hope you enjoyed :)**


	2. Chapter 2: Hope at last

**I've decided to post a second chapter, more will be said at the end. Hope you enjoy :)**

Jeakim watched in pure terror as the guardsman in front of him, fell to the ground, a large hole straight through his side and he didn't the first thing he thought of, he fell into a nearby shell crater and was soon joined by other guardsmen who weren't eager to lose their lives so easily.

Of course there were zealous guardsmen still standing, raking the woodland on either side of them with lasfire but to no real effect and one by one they too were felled and then he heard the dreaded, not so distant screeches of Kroots. From the shell hole he could see in the distance a mass of Kroots rushing towards them, the tau on either side having done their job had withdrawn leaving their allies to clean up. To his credit the Commissar was still standing and still believed that his mission was fated to be a success and managed to beat the remaining thirty or so guardsmen into a ragged firing line and seeing this, Jeakim and the guardsmen who were with him decided to join them, believing the safety in numbers. In two ranks, the first man kneeling and the second man standing behind them, they unleashed a surprisingly effective barrage of lasfire onto the charging Kroots showing the surprisingly destructive power of the lasgun as the first Kroots rushing towards them. Jeakim with his head full of adrenalin joined in with the firing and with his immense satisfaction he fired at the nearest Kroot, severing its right arm and a good chunk of the thin xeno's chest and he mumbled a prayer before continuing to fire.

Alongside the guardsmen the sentinels decided to intervene and they 'ran' past the guardsmen, firing their lasguns and auto-cannons, stopping the Kroots in their path whose morale was waning under the amounts of fire-power they were being subjected to and they turned and fled, screeching loudly. Seeing this Jeakim said another prayer to his god and looked at the guardsmen around him who were mostly doing the same, until they were interrupted by the horribly close sound of jump jets "Emperor protect us" Jeakim heard from the guardsman next to him the moment before an XV8 Crisis Battlesuit landed straight in the ranks of the guards, flattening multiple guardsmen on impact and then opened fire with its flamer and plasma rifle. Around him the guardsmen fell, screaming to the ground, their armor disintegrating in the heat and it was only a moment before Jeakim felt pain suddenly blossom on his right shoulder and he looked to inspect the damage and upon seeing a smoking hole going straight through his armor and flesh he fell backwards into the now muddy feild, watching speechless as the same battlesuit picked up the commissar and inspected him for a second before crushing him under his foot, leaving only tattered remains on the ground before his vision faded into darkness.

(6 hours later)

Jeakim awoke with a start and sat up in a rough bed, feeling nothing from his shoulder and he looked around and found himself in one of the many imperial guard medical tents and an exhausted field medic noticed he was awake "You were very lucky son, your right arm is out of action for at least two weeks" Jeakim glanced briefly at it, seeing his whole right arm heavily bandaged "Very few other survivors" The medic continued "The Tau made their battlesuit attack and then just left, took us a while to go out and find survivors" Jekaim nodded his silent thanks to the medic and stood up "Thank you sir, may I go?" He asked quietly and the medic nodded "Yes son, just no shooting for a while.. it's nearly over" He added softly before turning back to another patient, leaving Jeakim to stand silently for a few seconds, his mind racing before walking out slowly and heading back to the only place he really knew, his squad's bunker.

Jeakim was immensely saddened to find no other members of his squad in the bunker, only meaning they had perished in Jeakim's mind and he sat down and cried quietly to himself and there he stayed, for at least what must have been a few days, living of the field rations stored in the bunkers and lived there on his own until he heard the distant blasts of plasma rifles. Jeakim emerged from his bunker and was met by a terrible sight, the headquarters had seemingly been taken without anyone lower on the hill noticing and there was now a Tau flag flying from it "Must be those damn stealth suits" He thought to himself and he hurried through the trenches and entered a clearing and saw something he would never forget and would stay with for the rest of his life. There were hundreds of guardsmen surrendering in rows, to the invisible stealth suits Jeakim knew where there and with only a few moments thought he walked over and raised his arms in surrender and joined them, seeing the field medic who treated him many days ago he whispered to him "This is it, it really is over now" Or so Jeakim thought under he heard a shocked "Guardsmen?" He turned and saw the last remaining Commissar, standing at the entrance to the clearing, mouth agape" He stood there in shocked silence before leading out a roar "Traitors!" With his right bionic arm he took the bolt pistol from his hip and was about to fire on the guardsmen but Jeakim rushed forwards and plunged his bayonet into the Commissars stomach who started gurgling, blood slowly leaking out of his mouth before Jeakim pulled the trigger on his lasgun still embedded in the Commissar's chest, burning a hole straight through him and he fell back dead. Jeakim stood still, mind reeling at the act of treason he had just performed and he was only brought back to his senses when he heard quiet clapping from behind him and he turned to see something that shook him to his core.

A tau Ethereal was standing, applauding him quietly and looked over the mass of surrendering guardsmen who, like Jeakim were staring in disbelief at the etheral, who was quickly joined by a squad of fire-warriors, quelling any thoughts of opening fire on him in any solider's mind. The Ethereal was silent for a moment before opening his mouth and spoke in heavily-accented Low Gothic "Brave guardsmen of the Imperium, you have surrendered, your leaders are dead and you have no chance of resisting left but on account on your bravery I present you an offer. Join the Tau and fight for what is the greater good. You may be wondering why we are offering you this as you have been told we are just barbaric xenos, those are the lies you have been told. Join us, and you will be given your own world, a new life and safety within the Tau empire, and somehow Jeakim found himself cheering along with the rest of the guardsmen and this is how he found himself upon a Tau spacecraft heading deep into tau space, still with his weapon and equipment. After a short flight he found himself on a pleasant world of grassy plains, snow capped mountains and dense forests and to his amazement this was his new home, he had a modern Tau dwelling, proper rights and a feeling of being valued by the people around him. Of course it took months to fully trust the Tau but when he did, he realised how obsolete the Ideas of the Imperial were, and this how he eventually found himself in the red armor of a Tau Gue'vesa.

Jeakim was so content with his life with the Tau and how it was frankly a life nobody could ever to hope to have serving the imperium of man, Jeakim accepted an offer to produce propaganda statements, calling other humans to do as he did and join the Tau empire with promises of a much better life and a real feeling of being viewed as a member of a community and not just a slave. At first his campaign was met with little success but then slowly but surely worlds surrendered to the Tau along with their military forces peacefully and without any loss of life and Jeakim was happy with his new lot in life, until he heard one broadcast that he had been dreading from the start. It was a short Imperial vox broadcast send galaxy-wide branding Jeakim a heretic for his work in assisting the hated Xenos and upon hearing this Jeakim made one of his life's biggest and greatest choices. He decided to ones more take up his lasgun and fight, but not for mankind, this time for the greater good.

 **There we go, that's the end of the second chapter and possibly the end of the story. If anyone reads this and wants me to continue Jeakim's story I will gladly do so. I hope you enjoyed :)**


	3. Chapter 3: A new cause, a new war

**I decided to post another chapter, yaayyy.**

 **Enjoy :)**

Once Jeakim had made his decision he headed down the the nearest Tau recruitment centre in his distant Tau colony manned by an old fire warrior veteran who wearily accepted Jeakim's request to join the Tau auxiliaries and directed him him to the nearby military spaceport. Once their Jeakim was surprised to see many humans there already lined up to go through a security gate into the complex. He approached one of the humans and after a few questions he learnt that these humans were here for the same purpose he was, to fight against their old masters. Once inside the complex Jeakim was put through a quick medical scan and was let into a large room that was mostly taken up by a huge 3-D printer that was printing imperial-pattern lasguns and dropping them into a large container which humans which humans were retrieving the weapons from before proceeding into the next room.

Jeakim cautiously walked up to the container and took a lasgun and expected alarms to go off around him but there was nothing, once realising everything was ok Jeakim examined the weapon which was exactly the same as the standard guard lasgun. Feeling almost reassured to have his old weapon in his hands he walked into the next room where lines of humans were getting into red-painted imperial guard flak jackets and uniforms put in neat piles on benches with a strange looking helmet on top. Jeakim went to the nearest bench and slowly put on the armor, amazed by the level of trust the Tau were giving him. Once his armor was on he realised why the helmet was different, It had a vox-caster built into it, a luxury seldom granted to an imperial guardsman who often had to rely on sign-language in the thick of battle. Feeling grateful for the upgrades in equipment upgrades and reassured in his new cause now he was equipped he walked out onto a landing pad with the other humans where a tau orca transport was waiting for them.

Once inside the transport Jeakim sat down in one of the seats lining the walls and put his lasgun between his legs and leant his head back, resting it against the wall behind him and he decided to attempt to sleep the journey away. -2 hours later- Jeakim jolted awake when a humans voice came through the transport intercom and delivered a message "Gue'vesa. The Tau empire is grateful of service and you couldn't have volunteered at a better time. Hive Fleet Gorgon has arrived and the forest world Sha'draig is under siege. We are being deployed directly onto the ground to face the the Tyranid threat. Prepare for action Gue'vesa" The intercom faded and Jeakim picked up his lasgun, shaken from the news he would be facing Tyranids and nervously awaited the time of arrival.

A few minutes after arrival another message came through saying they had arrived and to prepare for immediate combat. Slowly but surely the sound of roars and screeches accompanied by explosions and gunfire got louder and louder until with a loud thud the Orca landed and the doors silently slid open. Jeakim immediately rushed out of the transport and was greeted with the sight an endless horde of Tyranid Hormagaunts rushing towards the suddenly very thin-looking walls of the Tau outpost they had landed in. Orders were already forgotten as every soldier inside the outpost was already responding to the threat and as several more orcas landed, Jeakim ran across the outpost and up the short staircase to the top of the walls to get a better look. Below him a sea of Hormagaunts were rapidly approaching his position on the wall, the defence turrets armed with burst cannons and the Tau fire warriors alongside him on the wall were tearing them to pieces, the endless tide steadily approached the wall although piles of Tyranid corpses already littered the areas of cleared forest around the outpost.

Jeakim looked down just as the first Hormagaunts arrived at the wall. The Hormagaunts leapt at the wall and to Jeakims astonishment rapidly started to scuttle up the wall towards his position. Mindful of the threat the fire warriors aimed their weapons down at the Tyranids on the wall, felling large numbers of them but they still kept getting steadily closer and it wasn't long before Jeakim saw the first hooked claw grip the the top of the wall and a hideous Hormagaunt clambered over and saw him immediately with a blood curdling shriek. For a moment Jeakim was paralyzed with fear and seeing all the warriors around him were busy he lifted his lasrifle and squeeze the trigger, aiming blindly at the Tyranid, rapidly firing at the Tyranid just as it was about to leap at him. Although many of the frantically fired beams missed, some found their mark and the two taloned front appendages of the beast were severed before a beam sliced into its skull and fried it's primitive brain, killing it instantly. Panting slightly, his eyes wide Jeakim took a moment to work out it was dead before rushing to the wall, cautiously stepping over the body and peaking over. The Tyranid he had killed was the only one that had reached the top of the wall and the rest were being shot down as they scrambled upwards. Jeakim lifted his lasgun up and leant over the wall slightly, firing rapidly down towards the ground, not even looking where he was shooting as he was certainly hitting something. After at least a minute of firing like this Jeakim's lasgun stopped shooting and he pulled it back over, barrel sizzling, replacing the power pack and putting the old one in one of the large pockets of his uniform Jeakim glanced over the edge as something in the Hormagaunts mind clicked and they scattered, rushing away from the walls leaving a pile of bodies nearly the height of the wall and little of the cleared forest floor visible under corpses. Breathing heavily Jeakim sat down and leant his back against the wall and he listened to the distant sounds of the battles deciding the fate of the world he had just arrived to defend.

After a few minutes of rest a cry went up from a group of the Gue'vesa on another side of the wall, getting up and jogging over to see what they were shouting about, Jeakim saw a trio of Carnifexes appear from the treeline and run slowly with heavy steps towards the wall. "Carnifexes!" Jeakim shouted down before joining in with the steadily growing barrage of fire hitting the Carnifexes. About halfway to the wall the nearest Carnifex's legs buckled and it fell with a roar, already full of holes but the other two were close behind and although wounded they were not slowed, crashing straight through the wall, throwing the defenders standing above them to their deaths. The wall now breached, the Carnifexes rushed into the centre, wildly slashing with their blade, cutting down great masses of Tau and humans alike until one of the outposts few crisis battlesuits fired its fusion blaster into the head of one of the mighty Carnifexes, disintegrating it with a huge fountain of blood and the Carnifex fell dead, the battlesuit turning and finishing off the second one who had already been weakened by the mass of firepower hitting it. Jeakim stared down at the destruction caused by the breach, large numbers of human and Tau limbs were scattered around the wall with mangled bodies strewn around. Immediately Tau Earth Caste drones were constructing rather flimsy looking barricades to block the breach and Jeakim wearily trudged down the stairs and took a position behind a wall of sandbags, resting his lasgun up facing the breach and he waiting for the inevitable attack.

 **Those who made it this far may have noticed this far that this is the shortest chapter yet. I am going to work on lengthening the chapters but this one definitely took the most effort to write. I hope it isn't too much of an issue and I hope you enjoyed :)**


	4. Chapter 4: A new battle and a new face

**Hello everyone, I am still here. I must apologise for my absence but life got in the way with exams and I also wasn't quite sure how to continue. Luckily I've had some inspiration and I've decided to put more effort into the plot and introduce some (hopefully) decent characters.**

The Tyranids were relentless in their assault, wave upon wave of monstrosities threw themselves into the breach of the wall, only to be repulsed again and again by concentrated plasma and las fire. Jeakim lurched awake to the sound of distant artillery, his once red armor now caked in mud. He was still watching the breach among a large group of exhausted fire warriors and Gue'vesa. At first there had been tension between the humans and the Tau race, but now they were comrades, racial differences put aside. He looked up to the roar of Kir'la class gunships racing overhead, strafing distant targets with their rail and ion cannon batteries. Noticing how unusually quiet it was, Jeakim peeked over the watter of blood-splattered sandbags and saw for once the breach was actually clear and Fire warriors were tentatively approaching and looking out past the walls. Jeakim stood up, overcome with relief and looked around the camp, too elated to realise the huge cost defending the outpost had inflicted on the Tau and their allies. After a few minutes of relief there was a soft beep from the communications and he approached it, activating it with by touching a combination of glyphs.

For a few seconds there was only static and then an ethereal started to speak in a loud commanding voice, the survivors joining him and clustering around the array, Jeakim's spirits soared even further when he heard the Ethereal commend them for their defence of the outpost and now the Tau were counterattacking, using massed artillery and mechanised forces to push deep into Tyranid territory in an attempt to destroy the source of the invasion, the Tyranid hive. The next few hours passed like a blur for Jeakim, Orca transports arrived with fresh reinforcements and the survivors were taken back to the Capital where they enjoyed a day of rest followed by a day of medical examinations and healing. Surprisingly he wasn't too badly hurt and on the third day he once again boarded an Orca heading straight back to the now distant front lines. After a few good hours, Jeakim was woken by a worried human voice speaking through the loudspeaker "All soldiers on this transport, brace for impact and evasive maneuvers, we have a moderately sized Harpy swarm approaching our position. I repeat brace for evasive maneuvers"

After a few moments of silence, suddenly the whole Orca shook as something landed on top of the transport, using a Camera screen in the centre of the transport, Jeakim could see several moderately large creatures land on the Orca, starting to tear through the roof and the lights flickered. Preparing for the worst, Jeakim flicked the safety off his lasgun before he was thrown back in his seat as the Orca rapidly climbed, throwing off the Harpies and sending them spiraling off, struggling to regain their balance. Once the Orca was above the Tyranids, the lower self-defence turret deployed, a pair of twin-linked long burst cannons warming up for a second before spraying the sky below with plasma blasts, several of the Harpies being caught in the blasts, their wings being torn off or being shot out of the sky, falling down into the clouds. After a few seconds the Orca speeds up, rapidly increasing distance between where they encountered the Harpies.

After a few minutes, Jeakim had just started thinking they were past the worst of it when there was a loud screech and a loud bang, a large dent forming in the bay doors. Even at full speed, several more dents were formed in the door before the pilot opened them, throwing off several Harpies. As they were strapped in, Jeakim and his comrades weren't sucked out and the single Crisis Battlesuit stood up, it's magnetic feet planting it firmly to the floor as it unloaded its burst cannon into the Harpies, literally cutting them to pieces. Once it was finished, the bay doors closed and several Tau gunships flew past them, scattering the Harpies. Jeakim sat back in his chair, his heart racing and it continued to for the next three hours until the bay doors slid open and the Orca landed on a landing pad in the Tau forward command base. Jeakim and his comrades wearily hopped out of the Orca and were formed up into rows and sent down into the base and assigned a room he would share with two fellow humans. Deciding introductions with his new roommates could wait, he stripped of his carapace armour and flopped down on a lower bunk bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

-Next morning, 8.30 am-

The next morning Jeakim awoke to a soft beeping coming from the wall next to him, not knowing quite what to do he slammed his fist against it, the beeping cut out. Satisfied at the outcome, he sat up and dressed in his carapace armour. Just as he was preparing to leave a tired voice called out to him from behind him "So you're Jeakim huh?" He looked behind him to see a tall human with short messy brown hair and a short trimmed goatee, the markings on his sleeves distinguishing him as a specialist, a veteran Gue'vesa. Jeakim nodded, not sure what to say but the other man continued "I'm Adrian, Adrian Stevenson, a pleasure" He extended his hand which Jeakim reluctantly shook. After a few second Adrian withdrew his hand and put his helmet on "Seems our other comrade is yet to arrive, we should go out and get some breakfast quickly before reporting in. Keep up" He smiled warmly before opening the door from their room and walking out, the door swishing closed behind him. After a few seconds of hesitation, Jeakim jogged out after Adrian towards the prefab Gue'vesa mess hall.

Inside there was hundreds of humans all sitting on rows of tables in groups. Adrian and Jeakim joined the que and they were served by a rather jolly human cook who served them large amounts of high energy cereal and gave them their ration packs for the day. After collecting their cereal they found an empty table and sat down opposite each other, eating silently for a moment before Jeakim decided to break the ice "So, Adrian..How did you end up on this side?" After a moment of thought he replied "Well I joined up like you I suppose, but I wasn't originally a deserter, I joined up willingly on Taros" He said proudly. Jeakim smiled slightly at this "Ah I have heard many stories about your planet" Taros was famous among the Tau for trading with the Tau and then when the Tau annexed the planet, they fought side-by-side with the Tau against the Imperial forces sent to reclaim the planet.

Adrian nodded "Yes we have a proud history, what about you Jeakim?"

After a few moments Jeakim replied "Well… not much to it really. I was born on Brimlock and at 16 I decided to do my duty to the Emperor and joined the guard. I was a proud little guardsman, killing the Xenos across the galaxy before being sent against the Tau. There I learned the true nature of the Imperium and seeing my regiment surrendering I gladly accepted the offer of peace given by the Tau. I was housed by them for a few months before I made up my mind and joined the Gue'vesa, and here I am" Adrian smiled slightly "Like so many others. I heard about that outpost you were involved in defending, bad business that.. bad business… Oh well at least you're here" They fell silent and finished their Cereal and put their rations in the small bag they all carried before walking out of the mess hall upon hearing the mustering siren. 500 or so Gue'vesa all lined up in ranks in the centre of the base and were addressed by a smart, ex-imperial officer. He explained that they were going to be fighting at the spearhead of the thrust into Tyranid territory alongside the Tau, and if they were successful, maybe just maybe they could end the Tyranid infestation of the planet and maybe even the whole sector.

 **I hope you enjoyed, once again I am sorry for the delay :)**


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